In the majority of the rural homes in the United States, the back yards are enclosed by wooden fences. There are usually one or two gates in these fences to permit access to the other side. The gates are typically hinged to a post on one side and connected to a latching mechanism on the other side. One part of a latch mechanism is attached to the gate, and another part of the mechanism is connected to an adjacent post. Thus, the gate is firmly connected by the latch mechanism to one post and by the hinges to another post. This assures the security of the back yard and prevents the intrusion into the yard by animals and others without releasing the latch mechanism. Ingress and egress from the yard is effected by releasing the latching mechanism and swinging the gate about its hinged axis. Upon passing through the open gate, the gate door is swung back into place and relatched.
A problem develops over a period of time from the impact of the gate closing against the latch mechanism. The momentum of the gate is transferred directly into the latching system. Because of the light weight character of the typical latch mechanism and the impact from the heavy gate, the repeated closure of the gate eventually breaks down the latch mechanism. After this occurs, the momentum of the gate will be transferred through the length of the gate into the hinges. Because the torque effect on the hinges at this time is so great, the gate hinges will eventually be pulled from the post or the gate support resulting in total gate failure.
To overcome this problem, numerous workers in the construction trade have nailed a piece of wood, usually a portion of one of the slats used on the fence, to the post or gate support. This piece of wood would then function as a stopping device which would absorb the shock from the gate during closing. This, however, is only a temporary solution since the use of wood to transfer the gate momentum will not withstand the many impacts over a period of time. Also, the momentum transferred into the wood stop is in turn transferred into the post or gate support via the nails. Repeated use will loosen the nails, thereby causing the wood stopper to ultimately fail.
Other stoppers have been proposed in other areas. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,388,851 discloses a stopper for drawers. In that patent, a flat plate is disclosed having a tab extending from one edge of the plate and perpendicular to the plate. The plate is connected to the drawer casing by screws. The tab is used to catch a base plate attached to the back of the drawer wall. The base plate strikes the tab and prevents the complete withdrawal of the drawer from the desk, bureau or table. The use of such stoppers on gates would be an improvement over the wood stopper, but would still have problems. For example, as with the wood stoppers, the momentum of the gate would be transferred through the metal stopper into the screws which are anchored into the post or gate support. With continued use, these screws will be loosened and eventually pulled out of the post or gate support. Also, the metal stoppers would require the use of screws rather than nails. The adaptability of a gate stopper to use nails is an important economic advantage in the construction trade.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved gate stopper which is capable of durably receiving the shock of a closing, heavy gate, that does not transfer all of the gate momentum to a post or gate support via nails or screws, that is easily installed, and that is inexpensive to manufacture and ship.